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Ed Viesturs is one of the 18 people ever (and the only American) to have climbed all fourteen eight thousanders. It's a very rare feat- no woman has achieved it as yet. Yet, he is surprisingly level headed and devoid of ego. He ascribes his success to hard work, common sense and lack of bravura. He doesn't put it that way and it's not that blunt but this is what can be read between the lines. This cannot be said about all climbers though, and it's is especially visible when climbing the world's most treacherous mountain- K2. Many lose their lives in 'getting to the top fever', by being ill prepared, overconfident or blindly ambitious.
K2 is the world's second tallest mountain and four times as deadly as Everest. One in four climbers dies there. Viesturs almost lost his life there in 1992 when he and his partner Scott Fisher (he later lost his life on the infamous Everest climb described by Krakauer in Into Thin Air) were swept away by an avalanche, and it was Viesturs who managed to save them both. Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain by examining eight different expeditions to the top, and of those who wanted to conquer it.
Viesturs has a remarkably high opinion of Polish climbers, which I, being Polish, duly note.